Shares flat after early boost

AUSTRALIAN stocks were flat at noon, with an early rally losing steam during morning trade.

At 12.18pm AEDT today, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up two points, or 0.04 per cent, at 4584.8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 1.8 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 4594.7 points.

On the ASX 24, the December share price index futures contract was two points lower at 4588 points, with 12,933 contracts traded. The local market opened up about 0.3 per cent as investors looked past a weak lead from Wall Street before giving up those gains during the morning.

"There has been quite a lot of cash that has been sitting on the sidelines and people have been looking for homes to put that into," Mr Leppinus said. "The big benefit of that has been for stocks with reasonably high dividend yields."

"We've seen quite big moves in the last few months in companies that might not be growing their earnings in leaps and bounds but the dividend yields are definitely gaining investor attention."

Making news today, Caltex Australia flagged a return to profitability in calendar 2012 on a replacement cost basis, which excludes the effect of changes in the world oil price, thanks to stronger sales of petrol products. Caltex was up 42 cents, or 2.22 per cent, at $19.35.

Insurance Australia Group said it would sell its ailing UK assets and expected to make a $240 million loss on the transaction. IAG was down 10 cents, or 2.08 per cent, at $4.71.

And shares in APN News & Media were down three cents, or 9.52 per cent, at 28.5 cents after the troubled company issued a profit warning after the market closed yesterday.

The spot price of gold in Sydney was $US1697.40 per fine ounce, down 95 US cents from yesterday's local close of $US1698.35 per ounce.

National turnover was 566 million securities worth $1.1 billion, with 361 stocks trading up, 349 down and 314 unchanged.

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